The Fan Teaser: Week 151 Solution

DouglasTHill

7 months ago

**^{In an effort to hammer this clue home, you}**
**^{should certainly be able to touch all the bases}**
**^{this week.}**

No matter the pundit doing the selecting, Henry Aaron‘s certainly going to be among their list of the 10 best offensive players in Major League Baseball history.

Let’s take a gander at some of his statistics shall we:

He’s a lifetime .305 hitter
He’s second all-time with 755 career home runs
He’s career leader in total bases with 6,856 (second place is Albert Pujols who trails by over 600)
He also leads Pujols all-time in career RBIs with 2,297
His 143.2 Career WAR ranks fifth in history among all position players (Barry Bonds, Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, and Ty Cobb are ahead of Aaron)

^{This image of Aaron was captured during the Milwaukee Braves’ 1957 spring training in West Palm Beach, FL. Interestingly enough, he wore uniform No. 52 that spring before moving back to the No. 44 he wore each MLB season (save his first when he wore No. 5). (Photo by John Zimmerman/Sports Illustrated)}

In 1957, the season from which this week’s image was captured by Sports Illustrated‘s John Zimmerman during a Spring Training game, Aaron won his only MVP Award. Though he finished in the Top 3 five other times, only in 1957 did the voters deem him a worthy recipient, what with his .322 batting average, and league-leading 44 home runs, 118 runs scored, and 132 RBIs it’s hard to argue.

What’s uncertain is why he was wearing No. 52 during that spring training. He was issued No. 5 during his rookie season but switched a season later to No. 44 which he stuck with for his 22 remaining seasons. (For what it’s worth, he belted exactly 44 homers on four times during his career.)

As I was digging into “Hammerin’ Hank’s” career numbers in preparation for this week’s Fan Teaser Solution, I noticed something previously unknown (by me, at least;-). During his 23 big league seasons, Aaron played every defensive position but pitcher, catcher, and shortstop. File that away for your next Immaculate Grid play.

Check out Aaron’s page at the National Baseball Hall of Fame here.

^{MLB presented this tribute to Aaron during July’s All-Star Game in Atlanta.}

Just to review, The Fan Teaser was the creation of former Ann Arbor News Sports Editor Geoff Larcom. Longtime friend and fellow Ann Arbor News alum, Pat Schutte, took it to heights previously unknown. We aim to keep it alive here at The Sports Fan Project. The cropped photo and the accompanying clue give you an idea as to who or what the image is of. We invite you to use the Comment option to take a crack at solving the Teaser and, if you’re so inclined, participate in some good-spirited banter with your fellow sports fans. The Fan Teaser will appear each Friday morning with the reveal coming to you Sunday.

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